Full Disclosure

A judge has sentenced two San Francisco Chronicle reporters to 18 months in prison for refusing to reveal the sources they used in cracking the steroid saga, a web that famously includes the likes of Barry Bonds, Jeremy Giambi and other athletic superstars.

The two reporters, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, have said repeatedly they'd rather spend time in jail rather than reveal the sources that leaked them the grand jury testimony that allowed them to write a series of groundbreaking stories as well as their book Game of Shadows. For the time being they will avoid the prison time as they appeal the latest decision.

While trying to avoid the soapbox on this subject, the freedom of the press is rooted so deeply in the uses of anonymous sources that asking a reporter to reveal their secret informant is tantamount to confiscating their tools as an investigative journalist and then expecting them to be able to do their job somehow just as effectively as before. And while many might feel that a journalist being required to make public the names of people who provided them critical information is a small price, make no mistake that if these two reporters eventually to give up the names, it changes their entire livelihood and will ultimately trigger a domino effect for reporters of all beats.

Fainaru-Wada and Williams know full well if they ever have to suffer the fate of disclosing these names — people who themselves performed the illegal act of giving up sealed testimony — that their careers as investigative journalists are over. No one ever again will provide these writers with the public information we need, but wouldn't always be privy to.

That Fainaru-Wada and Williams are sentenced to 18 months in prison, not for an illegal act mind you, while the likes of Victor Conte and Greg Anderson combined haven't served that amount despite the fact they are the ones right at the heart of the entire debacle.

Fainaru-Wada and Williams very likely will end up serving jail time for an act that sits at the very heart of what it means to be an investigative journalist. They did their job well, they exposed dirty secrets that we all should know about and they stood their ethical ground in the face of the threat of prison.

Unnamed sources helped expose a president, they have been integral in exposing the seedy underbelly of municipal, civic and federal politics and they've found their way into arguably the biggest sports story of all time.

If we are to continue our pursual of vital information such as that which was exposed by the Chronicle, the journalists who bring us such material can't be burdened with the need to constantly look over their shoulders wary of another misguided legal battle.